Documents
Agenda
Standard Items
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Present
Councillors B Brown, Cameron, Clark, Glen, Henry, Lawson, Mack, M Macmillan, McQuade, Murrin, Mylet, Perrie, J Sharkey, M Sharkey and Williams and I Keith and J Nellaney.
Chair
Councillor Henry, Convener, presided.
In Attendance
P Macleod, Director of Children's Services; D Hawthorn, Head of Childcare and Criminal Justice, G McKinlay, Head of Service, M Dewar, Acting Head of Service and A Conboy, Education Manager (all Children's Services); and D Forbes, Finance Manager and E Currie, Senior Committee Services Officer (both Finance & Resources).
SEDERUNT
Councillor Mylet entered the meeting prior to consideration of the following item of business.
Items Of Business
Apologies
Apologies from members.
Declarations of Interest
Members are asked to declare an interest in any item(s) on the agenda and to provide a brief explanation of the nature of the interest.
There were no declarations of interest intimated prior to the commencement of the meeting.
Joint report by the Directors of Finance & Resources and Children's Services.
1
There was submitted a joint report by the Directors of Finance & Resources and Children's Services for the service for the period 1 April to 18 September, 2015.
DECIDED:
(a) That the budget position be noted; and
(b) That it be noted that there had been net budget realignments of £12,341 processed since the last report primarily related to the transfer of Schools Tackling Poverty budgets from Miscellaneous partially offset by transfers to the corporate landlord, the reallocation of previously agreed savings and the transfer of Citizens Advice Bureau funding to Miscellaneous Services.
Report by the Director of Finance & Resources.
2
There was submitted a report by the Director of Finance & Resources for the service for the period 1 April to 18 September, 2015.
DECIDED: That the report be noted.
Report by Director of Children's Services.
3
There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to a proposal to consult on revised catchment arrangements affecting Glencoats and West Primary Schools, in line with legislative requirements detailed in the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010, amended through the enactment of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.
The Council continually reviewed the performance of the school estate and had identified that the geographical boundary between Glencoats and West Primary Schools zoned an area within the Ferguslie neighbourhood outwith its natural boundary and therefore the catchment areas for both schools should be reviewed.
DECIDED:
(a) That the consultation procedures relating to the proposal to revise catchment arrangements between Glencoats and West Primary Schools, as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report, be approved;
(b) That the consultation document, which formed Appendix 2 to the report, “The revision of catchment areas affecting Glencoats and West Primary Schools” be approved; and
(c) That it be agreed that a report on the outcome of the consultation be submitted to the meeting of this Board to be held on 12 May, 2016.
Report by the Director of Children's Services.
4
There was submitted a report relative to the Service Improvement Plan 2015/18 for Children’s Services.
The Director of Children’s Services advised that he wished to withdraw this report and submit an up-to-date report to the next meeting of this Board to be held on 21 January, 2016. This was agreed unanimously.
DECIDED: That it be noted that the Director of Children’s Services wished to withdraw this report and submit an up-to-date report to the next meeting of this Board to be held on 21 January, 2016.
Report by the Director of Children's Services.
5
There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the inspection by Education Scotland of Wallace Primary School and Nursery Class, Elderslie, undertaken during April 2015, as part of a national sample of primary education.
A copy of the letter to parents and quality indicator evaluations, published by Education Scotland on 25 August, 2015, was appended to the report. The inspection report had identified four key strengths and three areas for further improvement. It was noted that Education Scotland would make no further visits in connection with the inspection. An improvement action plan would be developed and shared with parents, indicating how the main findings of the inspection report would be addressed. The report stated that the school would be supported in its improvement and arrangements would be made to inform parents of the progress made by the school in addressing the main points identified for action within two years of the publication of the report.
DECIDED: That the key strengths and areas for further improvement identified in the Education Scotland report on Wallace Primary School and Nursery Class, Elderslie be noted.
Report by the Director of Children's Services.
6
There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to progress on the Children’s Services Risk Management Plan 2015/16 approved at the meeting of this Board held on 14 May, 2015. The complete risk register showing risks, planned actions and progress was appended to the report.
DECIDED: That the progress being made by the Council in the management of the risks identified be noted.
Report by the Director of Children's Services.
7
There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to declaring the modular unit community learning store at Rowan Street, Paisley, traditionally used for the storage of physical activity equipment for use across the Council area, surplus to requirements.
The report intimated that the store had now been cleared and all resources had now been relocated to storage facilities at West Primary School and Underwood Road, Paisley as these locations were more accessible to users. The property would be referred to the Director of Development & Housing Services for further consideration and to be disposed of if it was not required for Council purposes.
DECIDED:
(a) That the modular unit which previously accommodated the community learning store at Rowan Street, Paisley be declared surplus to requirements; and
(b) That it be noted that the unit would be referred to the Director of Finance & Resources to consider the future use of the building.
Report by the Director of Children's Services.
8
There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to declaring the modular unit nursery class at East Fulton Primary School surplus to requirements.
The report intimated that the modular unit was no longer required as capacity reduction at East Fulton Primary School had been achieved by integrating the school’s nursery class into the main school building rendering the modular unit, which accommodated the nursery class, surplus to educational requirement. The property would be referred to the Director of Development & Housing Services for further consideration and to be disposed of if it was not required for Council purposes.
DECIDED:
(a) That the modular unit which previously accommodated the nursery class at East Fulton Primary School be declared surplus to requirements; and
(b) That it be noted that the unit would be referred to the Director of Finance & Resources to consider the future use of the building.
Report by the Director of Children's Services.
9
There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to payment of allowances to kinship carers. The report intimated that in the summer of 2014 the European Human Rights Commission raised human rights concerns about the policy of some councils who paid lower allowances for children in kinship care compared to foster care. Since then, the European Human Rights Commission had been working with those local authorities, Scottish Government and others to achieve equivalence in the allowances for the child given to kinship carers with that paid to foster carers.
Renfrewshire Council would consider the implications for its policies for payments to both kinship carers and foster carers and would submit a revised policy to a future meeting of this Board.
DECIDED:
(a) That the report be noted; and
(b) That it be noted that a revised policy for the payment of kinship carers and foster carers would be submitted to a future meeting of this Board.
Report by the Director of Children's Services.
10
There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) Annual Report 2014/15 published on 30 October, 2015.
The report intimated that the Care Inspectorate recently led a thematic review of MAPPA across Scotland and it was aniticipated that a national report would be published in November 2015.
MAPPA currently included sexual offenders and the Scottish Government was keen to extend the MAPPA arrangements to serious and violent offenders.
DECIDED:
(a) That the MAPPA Annual Report 2014/15 be noted;
(b) That it be noted that a further report would be submitted to this Board on the findings of the national thematic review of MAPPA; and
(c) That it be noted that plans were being developed to implement the extension of MAPPA to violent offenders.
Report by the Director of Children's Services.
11
There was submitted a report by the Director of Children’s Services relative to the Scottish Government’s launch of the Requirements for Community Learning and Development (Scotland) Regulations 2013. The report detailed the regulatory requirements place on local authorities and policy context.
The Regulations supported the achievement of four policy goals and had a specific focus within the strategic objectives for the reform of public services. A specific requirement of the Regulations was the creation and implementation of a strategic plan which detailed how community learning and development activities would be delivered in a local authority area. A draft strategic plan had been written and feedback on it was being sought at present from partner organisations. The finalised strategic plan would be submitted to the next meeting of this Board to be held on 21 January, 2016.
The Director of Children’s Services advised that a copy of the draft Community Learning and Development Strategy would be circulated to all elected members.
DECIDED:
(a) That the policy context and regulatory requirements placed on local authorities, as detailed in the report, be noted; and
(b) That a copy of the draft Community Learning and Development Strategy be circulated to all elected members.
Attendance
Declarations of Interests
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No declarations of interest have been entered for this meeting.
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